Molly and the Wolf
by Marcus Rowland
Summary: Secret Service agent Molly O'Connor knows nothing about the supernatural until the night Zoey Bartlet is kidnapped... First chapter of a BtVS, West Wing, and Warehouse 13 round robin posted on Twisting the Hellmouth


This is an idea I've had for a while, but never really developed properly. See the notes after the story for more. All characters and settings belong to their creators and vast media conglomerates, there is no intent to infringe their copyright. This story may not be distributed on a profit-making basis.

**Molly and the Wolf**

_Marcus L. Rowland_

Molly O'Connor has had all the usual briefings related to her principal, Zoey Bartlet, code name Bookbag - terrorists foreign and domestic, criminals, foibles that have led her into trouble in the past, and bad influences. She doesn't like Jean-Paul, and suspects the feeling is mutual, and she doesn't trust him. The team assigned to Zoey isn't large, but ought to be able to handle any problems. But something about this club, this situation, is raising her hackles; the chaos and noise is throwing her off her game.

When Zoey heads for the ladies room she loses sight of her for a few seconds, but sees a familiar figure go through the door. When she follows her inside she finds another girl, same build and an almost identical dress, and no sign of Zoey. She runs back outside, can't get through on the radio, and notices an open door. Fire stairs, but the alarm isn't ringing. She takes them at a run, hearing some sort of disturbance below, drawing her gun as she runs.

In the street two men are dragging Zoey towards a van, and one of them fires at her. The first shot misses her by a whisker, as she tries to fire back something slams her to one side. It's the biggest freaking dog... no, the fraction of her mind that isn't dealing with combat recognizes it as a wolf... whatever, it's huge and it's leaping for the gunman's throat. The other man lets go of Zoey, who staggers back, and tries to get a bead on the wolf, but that gives Molly the time she needs to take him down. Two taps to the head and heart, the way she was taught at Quantico. The other guy is screaming, firing wildly, she can't get a shot at him with the wolf in the way. Two more men pile out of the van, guns in their hands, and start firing at Molly and the wolf. There's a sharp pain in her arm, but it isn't her gun arm and she takes another kidnapper down. The wolf leaps towards the last, leaving the bleeding corpse of the first man it attacked, as Molly runs to Zoey, still miraculously unhurt, and tries to get her out of the line of fire. Someone screams, and the last gunman goes down, spraying dark arterial blood onto the sodium-lit asphalt. The wolf worries him for a moment, then turns to look at Molly and Zoey. She's frantically trying to reload as it yawns at her, showing bloody fur and huge white teeth, licks its lips with a long red tongue, then turns and lopes off into the night. And finally the goddamned radio is working, and she gets in a frantic call for backup, police, and animal control.

* * *

"You're going to get the Director's Valor Award," says Ron Butterfield, "and a Presidential Commendation."

"I don't deserve them," says Molly. "I let things get out of control."

"Everyone on the detail got confused, not just you. You handled the situation, saved Bookbag when everyone else was running around in circles. Officially you're a wounded hero who took down four terrorists, and will be receiving mandatory leave and counselling."

"Two. I shot two. The wolf killed the others."

"I was getting to that. As far as the public are concerned there was no wolf. Is that clear?"

"No."

"There was no wolf. There was a stray dog loose in the alley that tripped one of the kidnappers, but you, and you alone, took all four down."

"Can I at least ask why?"

"No. Not if you want to stay in the Service."

They talk around it for a couple more minutes, eventually Molly agrees. She shot four terrorists, and there was no wolf, just a stray dog.

She's still wondering about it three years later, after another year at the White House and two in the counterfeit detail, when she's assigned to a really weird job in South Dakota. It takes a while for Artie to tell her about her co-worker's odd condition, but once Oz knows she's cool with it, and admits that they've met before, a lot becomes clearer.

**End**

Notes for the perplexed: Molly was the young Secret Service agent assigned to Zoey Bartlet in _The West Wing_. In canon she was killed towards the end of Season 4, during Zoey Bartlet's kidnapping in 2003, which seemed a shame. Oz is Oz from _Buffy,_ of course. And Artie runs _Warehouse 13._

I've posted this story as the first chapter of a round robin on Twisting the Hellmouth. If you have an account there you can add more chapters. Please see see the version of this story there for the ground rules for the round robin.


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